Survival Scenario Exercise

Description of a Group Dynamics Team Building Exercise

Overview - Group Survival Scenario Exercise

A classic group communication and decision making exercise, with
many variations.

Works for a wide variety of ages and purposes, indoors or outdoors.

Consensus can be hard to reach, however, set the aim for all
participants to at least partially agree to each ranking on their
final list.

Encourage groups to complete the task without the use of tactics
such as voting, trading in or averaging.

Watch for participants avoiding conflict or changing their minds
simply to come to agreement. Highlight these kinds of behaviors in the
debrief.

An important outcome of this exercise can be learning that sometimes
a bit of give and take is necessary in order to move forwards to a
solution.

Watch for over emphasis by some participants on needing 100%
accurate answers. Steer the group towards the aim of the exercise
which is heightening awareness of communication and decision making
processes, rather than over emphasis on 'getting the answers exactly
right'. Display of this need is a point of observation and one worthy
of debrief.

There are two classic types of "paper & pencil" group survival scenarios
(selecting equipment and selecting people). In each case:

Provide instructions & hand out materials

Set a time limit (~15-30 minutes)

Let the group go - answer questions, watch, & observe!

Debrief

Scenario Type 1:
Choose Survival Equipment

Your plane crashed...your group needs to choose the 12 most useful
items to survive...

Scenario Type 2:
People Survival Scenario (Who will be saved?)

A nuclear bomb has been dropped...a radiation-free shelter is
available, but can only take 6 people; choose who will survive...

Choose / rank people in terms of who will get to live or die
in situations with limited survival resources:

Participants role play characters (a bit like a Murder Mystery)

Can lead to high emotions;
people get intensely engaged, particularly when choosing who will
survive, and none of
the decisions are easy.

No right answers - any so-called "correct" answers are based on
debatable values (e.g., ageism, sexism, racism)

Highlights individual's dispositions, group processes and decision making

Possible scenarios:

Plane crash survivors

Nuclear war shelter

Oxygen dwindling (space, moon, mars)

Lifeboat / Sinking ship (sea)

Variations

Appoint a time keeper in each group and encourage them to be the
person who monitors the progress of the group towards achieving
consensus within the time frame.

To emphasise individual versus group decision making, split the session into
three parts:

Individuals make their own selections first, on paper
(5-10 minutes)

Groups (or sub-groups) then discuss and create a group
decision

Compare individual and group performances, e.g.,:

For equipment scenarios, group decisions are usually more
accurate than individual answers, helping to illustrate the
importance of collaborative group decision-making.

For people scenarios, score individuals according to how close
the group's decision was to their own selections of who is to live
and die (an indicator of each person's influence over the group).

Possible Debrief Questions

How were decisions made?

Who influenced the decisions and how?

How could better decisions have been made?

Did people listen to each other? if not why not?

What roles did group members adopt?

How was conflict managed?

What kinds of behavior helped or hindered the group?

How did people feel about the decisions?

How satisfied was each person with the decision (ask each
participant to rate his / her satisfaction out of 10, then obtain a
group average and compare / discuss with other groups' satisfaction
levels)

What have you learnt about the functioning of this group?

How would you do the activity differently if you were asked to do it again?

What situations at work/home/school do you think are like this exercise?

Equipment

Scenario briefing
(1 per group)

List of items/people
(1 per person and/or visuals per group)

Expert list
(number optional)

Free downloads listed below

Summary

A classic group communication & decision making exercise.
People get intensely engaged because the "survival stakes" are high and none of
the decisions are easy. Works for a wide variety of ages and
purposes, indoors or outdoors.

Lost at Sea
(Rather long document but excellent facilitation notes for team building
and complete scoring notes for detailed analysis of individual and sub
group scores of 4 activities including Lost at Sea and Wilderness
Survival)